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Kathryn Smith Embarks On A YA Adventure Writing As Kady Cross

Thu, 05/26/2011 - 4:11pm — admin

Author Kathryn Smith is known for her Regency romances, but these days she has traded in her pelise for some steampunk flying goggles and a new YA pen name, Kady Cross.

This month Cross introduces readers to a very different London in her YA debut, the steampunk tale The Girl in the Steel Corset. RT Reviewer Ellen Parsons calls the book, "A steampunk mystery with a delicious love triangle and entertaining Jekyll and Hyde element." The story opens with feisty heroine Finley Jayne doing her best to survive in this alternate-London. And yesterday at BEA Kady Cross shared that Finley Jayne's advice for when one is confronted by adults with dubious agendas, is very simple. The feisty Finley says, "Hit them!" So we knew we had to ask the author about ...

Miss Finley Jayne's Rules For Surviving Her Steampunk World

1. Don't Look for Trouble. Of course, it might come looking for you. If so, feel free to beat it until it stops moving. Leaving an impression of your boot heel on it is always a good plan.

2. Avoid Pretty, Rich Boys. They are usually more bother than they're worth, unless they're saving your hide. Even then, pretty rich boys are usually charming and most dangerous to a girl's determination.

3. Do NOT provoke scowling lummoxes. (I mean you, Sam Morgan.)

4. If you cannot remember what you did the night before, perhaps you should not be prowling the city at night.

5. Do not be insulted when boys don't want you to carry them. Boys are funny that way.

6. If a constable comes calling, do NOT panic. If they could prove you did anything, they'd simply arrest you.

7. If you decide to run away from a problem, do insure that the problem does not give chase. If the solution to your problem gives chase, perhaps you should let him catch you.

8. The best way to apologize for almost killing someone is to stand by their side and fight for them -- even when they don't want you.

9. When you feel like a freak, remember that you are not alone.

10. Do allow people to become your friends. Sometimes they go on to become your family.

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